"When a door is sealed for three hundred years, you don't ask why. You pick the lock and look for the stuff no one else wanted you to find." – Wu Feng
The hills west of Linchuan were dry, cracked, and wind-scoured. Scattered shrines lay abandoned, their talisman wards long faded to brittle ribbons.
But one site stood untouched.
Not for lack of interest.
But because no one dared.
The map labeled it Temple Ruin 7A-X.Locals called it: "The Sealed One."And cultivators, even rogue ones, avoided it like plague.
Why?
Because every so often, someone tried to enter.
And they never came back.
Local Myth
Three centuries ago, a cult known as the Whispering Crown challenged the sect alliance. They mastered forbidden "Echo Cultivation"—techniques that used memories, rumors, and recorded thought to feed power.
When their founder fell, his temple was sealed. Not destroyed. Not raided. Just sealed—by a Heaven Decree from four sects. The reason was never recorded.
Now, the seal has cracked. And no one dares finish the job.
Wu Feng's Interest
He overheard the story from three bounty hunters drinking too loud near a broken well.
What got his attention wasn't the power.
It was the contradiction.
"If you can kill a cult," he muttered, "you loot it. If you can't… you bury it."
"So what did they find in that temple that made sealing it safer than using it?"
Only one way to know.
Step One: Steal an Identity
Wu forged a record slip from a forgotten rogue hall:"Yan Shu – 2nd-year aspirant of the Hollow Crown Remnant School."
He faked the cult's sigil using dust pressed into reverse-talent clay, applied to a shoulder wrap.
He wasn't going in as himself.
He was going in as someone who belonged.
[+15 PP – Infiltration Setup (Forbidden Cult Identity)][+5 PP – Temple Entry Prepared in Advance]
One Day Before the Seal Cracks
While others waited for the temple to "officially open" (under bounty license or sect escort), Wu slipped past the outer ridge, crossed two old perimeter wards, and entered the shadow of the temple doors.
They were massive—ironwood overlaid with chained jade seals.
But the bottom corner had split just enough to let a man through.
He slipped inside.
The world dimmed.
No light. No spirit lanterns. Only shadows that seemed to remember speech.
And memory.
Every wall bore engraved thoughts—not words. Not language. Intent.
The Echo Cult hadn't just written scrolls. They imprinted emotion and memory into physical space.
"Echo cultivation," Wu murmured. "They built techniques from remembrance. From what people believed they were."
He stood in a central hall. Dust swirled in perfect rings. The air trembled slightly with each breath.
He stepped forward.
The air thickened.
Then a voice.
His own.
"You are not Yan Shu."
He didn't move.
"You are no cultist. No heir. No devotee."
Another voice. This one feminine. Wounded. Old.
"You are... disrespectful."
"Yes," Wu said.
The floor cracked open.
And from the darkness below, a staircase unfurled—lined with silver ink that flickered when touched by footsteps.
New Location Unlocked: Inner Echo Sanctum
A hidden library-vault constructed by the Whispering Crown's founder, housing forbidden narrative techniques, memory scrolls, and spirit echo traps. Danger rating: High.
Wu stepped into the dark.
"I don't need permission. Just good timing."
Dozens of scrolls. Broken memory wells. A cracked echo orb that whispered the last words of the founder over and over:
"Truth is less useful than belief. Belief is less useful than memory. Memory is a weapon."
Wu examined three shelves before stopping at a sealed silver chest.
The lock wasn't spiritual.
It was mental.
A series of engraved lines—questions, written into the lid.
"Who were you before you were seen?""What rumor made you more than real?""What lie kept you alive?"
He didn't hesitate.
"No one.""The Meme Cult.""Every one of them."
Click.
The chest opened.
Ding!
New Technique Acquired
Fragment of the Crown: Thought-Echo Disguise (Lv. 1)Grants the ability to project a false spiritual identity—one that even low- to mid-level memory arrays and bloodline seals recognize as legitimate.Can be modified based on crowd perception and past rumors. Strength increases when the identity has been witnessed or whispered.
Wu sat down cross-legged and absorbed the fragment.
A new flow entered his spiritual map—a subtle loop connecting memory, narrative, and presence.
[+50 PP – Forbidden Technique Claimed (Unorthodox Type)][+20 PP – Solved Legacy Puzzle Without Guidance]
System Update!
Petty Points: 780New Passive: Rumor craft Lv. 1 – Whispered false identities gain +10% believability when repeated across regionsPetty Shop Update:
Crowd Belief Tracker (shows where your false names are gaining traction)
Illusory Backstory Generator (for adding credibility to schemes)
Memory-Loop Token: Temporarily creates a "shared history" between you and a stranger
Meanwhile – Outside the Temple
The main seal cracked completely.
Sect cultivators, rogue factions, and artifact hunters poured in.
But the sanctum?
Already empty.
By the time they reached the archive, the silver chest was open, the orb broken, and a single scroll was left behind.
It read:
"The Whispering Crown was never wrong.They just told the truth too loudly."
Signed: — Executor of Echo Silence
Crimson Root Sect Envoy:
"We have a live infiltrator.""A memory artist. Possibly Meme Cult.""Track rumors of 'Echo Silence.'"
Beast-Forged Path Disciple:
"Who steals from a sealed temple with no aura?""We're hunting him."
Li Qingyu (elsewhere):She received a report:
"An ancient temple was breached in Linchuan Province. Witnesses say a figure with no name entered two days before the doors opened."She added it to her scroll.
"Still moving… still escalating."
Wu Feng was by River. He sat beneath a moonlit tree near the river outside Linchuan.
A page hovered in his hand—glowing softly with engraved thoughts.
"People want to believe in legends," he murmured."I'll be every one of them.""As long as none of them are Wu Feng."